Emptying the Notebook: Buljan's bully ball second half too little, too late

SAN DIEGO, California — Here are some notes, quotes, stats, trends and other odds & ends I emptied out of the old notebook after Saturday's 83-79 UNM Lobos loss to San Diego State in Viejas Arena:

Buljan's big second half

Tomislav Buljan had one of the best halves of the season in the Mountain West on Saturday night, leading UNM's charge back from 15 points down to take a late lead at SDSU (it was the first time this season UNM held a lead in the final minute and lost).

The forward from Croatia was aggressive, physical, and versatile on both ends of the floor in the 16 minutes, 44 seconds he played in the second half.

The problem for UNM was that he was largely shut down in the first half.

Buljan 1st half at SDSU:

• Points: 2
• Shooting: 0-3
• Rebounds: 4 (1 offensive)
• Steals: 2
• Blocks: 0
• Turnovers: 0
• Plus/minus: -14

Buljan 2nd half at SDSU:

• Points: 18
• Shooting: 8-12
• Rebounds: 10 (6 offensive)
• Steals: 2
• Blocks: 1
• Turnovers: 6
• Plus/minus: +7

"We all talked as a team, that first half was really bad as a collective, and that we need to step up playing good defense, which going to translate to offense, just be a team, not each one by ourselves, just like as a whole group," Buljan told the Journal after the game.

"And I think we did a good job in the second half, but it's just because of the first half, you know? It's hard to bounce back. We were (close) to the victory. It didn't go our way this time. But we need to learn from this, that these first half is going to cost us in the future."

The gamer

Here's the gamer I filed from Viejas Arena on Saturday night:

• Lobos fall short, squander second-half rally in San Diego

The 3s keep falling

UNM hit 12-of-30 3-pointers on Saturday night — tied for third most in a game this season by any team against the Aztecs and the 40.0% the Lobos shot was tied for second best against SDSU and tied for the best by an opponent in Viejas Arena.

(Luke Haupt early from one corner...)

(Luke Haupt late from another corner...)

Most 3s made vs. SDSU

• 14* — Boise State (Jan. 3)
• 14 — Lamar (Dec. 10)
• 12 — New Mexico (Saturday)
• 12 — Oregon (Nov. 25)
• 12** — Troy (Nov. 18)
• 11 — Michigan (Nov. 24)

* 3 overtime game

** 2 overtime game

Highest 3-pt percent vs. SDSU

• 42.9% (12-28) — Oregon (Nov. 25)
• 40.0% (12-30) — New Mexico (Saturday)
• 40.0% (14-35) — Lamar (Dec. 10)
• 39.1% (9-23) — Baylor (Nov. 26)

(Antonio Chol is the only player in the Mountain West with a made 3-pointer in every game)

Over the first 13 games of the season, the Lobos knocked down 118 of 369 3-pointers (32.0%).

The last five games, including Saturday, the team has been picking up the efficiency from deep quite a bit.

UNM's first 13 games

• 3-pointers made: 118 (9.1/game)
• 3-pointers attempted: 369 (28.4/game)
• 3-point percentage: 32.0%

UNM's past five games

• 3-pointers made: 54 (10.8/game)
• 3-pointers attempted: 129 (25.8/game)
• 3-point percentage: 41.9%

NET gains

Saturday was a heartbreaker for the Lobos, to say the least.

But emotions and instant reactions aside, it wasn't a loss that actually hurt the Lobos in terms of postseason chances.

In fact, a true road game loss by that margin (UNM was a 5.5 point underdog at tipoff) coupled with several other Lobo past opponents having really big Saturdays actually saw the Lobos climb in both the NET and KenPom ratings, even passing San Diego State in the latter.

Saturday morning rankings:

• NET: UNM 42, SDSU 50
• KenPom: UNM 48, SDSU 46

Sunday morning rankings:

• NET: UNM 40, SDSU 46
• KenPom: UNM 46, SDSU 47

Where was Albury?

Starting point guard Deyton Albury had a rough go of it in the first half, posting six turnovers.

But the senior point guard didn't have any in the second half and while his aggressive drives to the hoop in the first half were often resulting in turnovers, those aggressive drives to the hoop in the second half were leading to good things.

In fact, in the 10:10 he was on the court in the second half alone on Saturday, the Lobos outscored San Diego State by a team-best 13 points.

So why, then, was his checking out with 7:47 left in the game the last we saw of Albury?

Olen said the initial substitution was just a regular rotational decision. Basically, it was time for Albury to get a rest.

But not going back in was more of a decision that freshman point guard Uriah Tenette was the better option down the stretch (though both have played together for long stretches this season, too).

"At the end we kind of have whoever we feel like gives us the best chance," Olen said. "I thought Uriah (Tenette) was really doing a nice job guarding the ball and having a little extra shooting out there around Tomislav, who was playing well and we felt like he was going to draw some attention was really the crux of that."

For the game, Albury had nine points, drew a game high-tying five fouls, two assists, two steals and those six first half turnovers. He also had a plus-2 for the game (UNM outscored SDSU by two in his entire 26:03 on the court).

Tenette played fine, mind you, though he did have a game worst minus-12 (it was minus-1 in the second half).

This is more of a question about Albury not playing than why was Tenette playing sort of postgame question, especially since they've played so well together at times this season.

Byrd flyin' high vs. Olen

Tip of the cap time to Miles Byrd, the preseason Mountain West Player of the Year, who looked the part on Saturday.

Saturday, he did a little bit of everything to affect the game, and the outcome.

He had an unbelievably full statline of:

• Points: 21
• Rebounds: 8
• Assists: 3
• Blocks: 4
• Steals: 3

You don't see statlines quite like that very often.

That is unless you're Miles Byrd and the opponent is coached by Eric Olen.

According to San Diego State Sports Information Director Richard Stern, this is only the second time since at least the 1996-97 season when such stats can be tracked, that an Aztecs player has has at least 20 points, 8 rebounds, 4 blocks, 3 assists and 3 steals in a game.

The other?

Miles Byrd vs. Eric Olen-coached UC San Diego on Nov. 6, 2024:

• Points: 20
• Rebounds: 8
• Assists: 3
• Blocks: 4
• Steals: 5

NOTE: SDSU beat UCSD 63-58 in last season's game in Viejas Arena.

UNM coach Eric Olen on Byrd: "I told him in the handshake line, that was a really great performance. I thought he made a ton of plays — a ton of winning plays — blocks that saved baskets, steals that led to baskets. He hit big shots."

SDSU coach Brian Dutcher on Byrd: "Miles Byrd was phenomenal in the way he affected the game with deflections, steals and blocked shots. He had a couple of fouls where I thought they were pretty close to clean blocks. He was changing a lot of shots at the rim with his defense. Miles is a dynamic player. He can load a stat sheet, and he did that tonight."

I'll take that

UNM's 10 steals vs. the Lobos was tied for the third past vs. the Aztecs this season, and most in well over a month.

Most steals vs. SDSU in 2025-26 season

• 12* — Troy (Nov. 18)
• 11 — Michigan (Nov. 24)
• 10 — New Mexico (Saturday)
• 10 — Utah Valley (Dec. 3)

* 2 overtime game

The problem for UNM was the 13 steals San Diego State had against the Lobos was a season-high for the Aztecs and season high for a Lobos opponent, more than erasing the benefit of UNM's 10 swipes.

Most SDSU steals this season

• 13 — vs. New Mexico (Saturday)
• 12 — vs. Utah Valley (Dec. 3)
• 10** — vs. Boise State (Jan. 3)

** 3 overtime game

Most steals vs. UNM this season

• 13 — at San Diego State (Saturday)
• 11 — vs. Florida Gulf Coast (Dec. 14)
• 9 — at VCU (Dec 10)

Bott teams' offenses benefitted from the steals, too. UNM scored 16 points off turnovers and the Aztecs scored 15. 

Future Lobo, brotherly love

Friday night, several Lobos coaches and players were at Santa Fe Christian High School in Solana Beach, California, to catch some high school hoops.

The game, fittingly, featured prep junior Tavid Johnson, the 6-foot-4, four-star shooting guard for San Diego's Francis Parker School and Dax Hall, the 6-2 point guard for Santa Fe Christian.

The reason? Johnson has committed to play for the Lobos as part of the Class of 2027 and Hall is the younger brother of Lobo freshman, Jake Hall.

I talked with both and will have an article this week about them.

As for the game, Johnson's 17 points helped his team to a big win, though Hall did one of the better jobs all season of holding one of California's top scorers (Johnson averages 27 points per game) in check much of the night.

After the game, Johnson, Hall and the Lobos — coaches and players — lingered about, talking and everal Lobo players were even signing autographs for fans. Both Johnson and the Hall family, Dax included of course, were also at Viejas Arena on Saturday for the Lobos/Aztecs game.

Jake feeling at home

Although he looked exhausted by games end, even coming up short-iron on both a free throw and a mid-range jumper in the second half, Hall, the San Diego-area native playing in front of plenty of family and friends in the crowd, finished with a really good statline vs. a San Diego State team that didn't really recruit him despite his 3,000 point high school career at nearby Carlsbad High School.

Jake had 15 points, five assists and drew four fouls in 34:56 on the court, including scoring the Lobos' first five points and the Lobos first four of the second half.

Lack of bench production

With local star Chris Howell, a Lobos starting guard who has missed seven games now with an oblique injury, sidelined again and reserve Kevin Patton Jr. still away from the team due to personal reasons (he's still on the team), the Lobos played just eight guys on Saturday. San Diego State played 11.

And the result was glaring.

Bench production Saturday:

• UNM: 12 points, 11 rebounds, four turnovers, two steals, one block
• SDSU: 37 points, 13 rebounds, three turnovers, four steals, zero blocks

UNM's lowest bench scoring:

• 7 points — loss at Boise State (Dec. 30)
• 12 points — loss at San Diego State (Saturday)
• 17 points — win vs. UC Riverside (Nov. 11)
• no other games below 20 points

A game of runs

Both teams had kill shots (10-0 runs), but San Diego State had more of the intermediate type runs (6-0 or better) than did the Lobos, playing a big part in the difference in the game.

SDSU had four runs of 6-0 or better and the one 12-0 kill shot run in the first half.

In UNM's four-game win streak over Wyoming, Colorado State, Air Force and Grand Canyon, the Lobos allowed a grand total of two 6-0 runs. Saturday' the Aztecs doubled that.

6-0 or better scoring runs vs. UNM (past 5 games)

• 1 — Wyoming (Jan. 3)
• 0 — Colorado State (Jan. 6)
• 1 — Air Force (Jan. 10)
• 0 — Grand Canyon (Tuesday)
• 4 — San Diego State (Saturday)

Familiar faces

UNM's own Ryan Berryman (interim AD and former student manager for Lobo hoops) and Kendall Williams (Lobo legend who played his senior season when Berryman started his first year as a manager) met up at Saturday's game (along with several hundered other Lobo fans at the game, many with direct connections to the players and staff on this year's roster).

Attendance

The announced attendance for Saturday's New Mexico at San Diego State game in Viejas Arena: 12,414

Here's what the announced attendance has been at each of UNM's true road games this season:

• 12,414 — Saturday at San Diego State
• 9,980 — Dec. 30 at Boise State
• 8,106 — Nov. 15 at New Mexico State
• 7,637 — Dec. 10 at VCU
• 3,640 — Jan. 6 at Colorado State
• 2,017 — Jan. 10 at Air Force

Series notes

UNM leads the all-time series 52-47 and is now 8-18 in Viejas Arena.

Here's a look at my article in Saturday's Journal that recapped all 25 previous meetings between the two schools in Viejas Arena since Saturday was the last time the two teams will play there, at least for the foreseeable future with Brian Dutcher being on record that he will not schedule nonconference games at elevation.

• SATURDAY MORNING: One last dance in Viejas between Lobos and Aztecs

Plus/minus...

Here are the plus/minus numbers for Saturday's game with minutes in parenthesis:

NEW MEXICO

• +6 Luke Haupt (27:39)
• +2 Deyton Albury (26:03)
• +1 JT Rock (11:10)
• 0 Antonio Chol (28:33)
• -4 Tajavis Miller (17:42)
• -6 Jake Hall (34:56)
• -7 Tomislav Buljan (28:52)
• -12 Uriah Tenette (25:05)

SAN DIEGO STATE

• +13 Reese Dixon-Waters (30:33)
• +9 Elzie Harrington (20:41)
• +9 Taj DeGourville (26:22)
• +5 Miles Heide (23:38)
• +4 Mile Byrd (31:12)
• +1 Pharaoh Compton (11:29)
• 0 BJ Davis (19:31)
• -1 Jeremiah Oden (3:31)
• -3 Sean Newman Jr. (14:13)
• -8 Tae Simmons (8:41)
• -9 Magoon Gwath (10:09)

Line 'em up

The UNM Lobos played eight players and used 18 unique lineup combinations on Saturday. The Aztecs played 11 players and used 23 unique lineup combinations.

Here's a look at some of the Lobos lineup combinations, starting with the starters.

STARTING LINEUP and BEST LINEUP

• WHO: Deyton Albury, Jake Hall, Luke Haupt, Antonio Chol, Tomislav Buljan
• POINT DIFFERENTIAL: +7 (26-19)
• TIME ON COURT: 12:27
• NOTE: The starting five was easily the best lineup for the Lobos in terms of point differential (you know, the most important stat that determine game outcomes). Maybe this adds to the questions and second guessing mentioned above about why Deyton Albury wasn't on the court once after checking out with 7:47 left in the game. Even if not to replace Uriah Tenette, could the two not have played together some down the stretch?

WORST LINEUP

• WHO: Uriah Tenette, Jake Hall, Luke Haupt, Tajavis Miller, Tomislav Buljan
• POINT DIFFERENTIAL: -4 (9-13)
• TIME ON COURT: 5:46
• NOTE: This grouping scored just 0.8 points per possession, which isn't going to cut it with the way Saturday's game was played.

AND THEM?

• SDSU STARTERS: Elzie Harrington, Reese Dixon-Waters, Miles Byrd, Magoon Gwath, Miles Heide
• POINT DIFFERENTIAL: -7 (6-13)
• TIME ON COURT: 5:16
• NOTE: Gwath's nagging injury, plus Brian Dutcher's lean toward playing so many players, made the starting unit's time together look rather limited by game's end, but it's still notable that SDSU's starting five was -7 in its time together on the floor and UNM's starting five was +7 in its time on the floor together. The bench was the difference on Saturday night.

VIDEO: Eric Olen and Tomislav Buljan

Here's my postgame video with UNM coach Eric Olen and Tomislav Buljan in Viejas:

Pregame in Viejas...

Here's a look back at the pregame show, for those interested in watching/hearing how wrong I probably was about everything that was about to happen in the game.

Meanwhile, at the U.S. Air Force Academy...

From the U.S. Air Force Academy's men's basketball website Saturday morning:

"Air Force Men's Basketball Head Coach Joe Scott has been suspended indefinitely pending an investigation into the treatment of cadet-athletes. Assistant Coach Jon Jordan (USAFA '85) will serve as interim head coach.

"No further information is releasable at this time."

Meanwhile, in Phoenix...

The Havocs were out in full force, the Lopes didn't have as much to complain about this time with officiating and Grand Canyon knocked off the league's top dog (or one of them), handing Utah State its first league loss, 84-74, on Saturday in Phoenix.

Around the Mountain...

There were five games around the Mountain West on Saturday and one Friday night. Here's a look at recent scores since the last Lobos game and some upcoming games around the league:

WEDNESDAY (Jan. 14)

• San Diego State 74, Wyoming 57
• No. 23 Utah State 71, Nevada 62
• FRIDAY (Jan. 16)
• Boise State 79, Colorado State 73

SATURDAY (Jan. 17)

• Grand Canyon 84, No. 23 Utah State 74
• Nevada 81, Air Force 66
• UNLV 76, San Jose State 62
• Fresno State 63, Wyoming 60
• San Diego State 83, New Mexico 79

TUESDAY (Jan. 20)

• Boise State at Wyoming, 6:30 p.m. MT (TheMW)
• Air Force at Colorado State, 7 p.m. MT (TheMW)
• San Jose State at Nevada, 8 p.m. MT (TheMW)
• UNLV at No. 23 Utah State, 9 p.m. MT (FS1)

WEDNESDAY (Jan. 21)

• Fresno State at New Mexico, 7 p.m. MT (CBS Sports Network)
• San Diego State at Grand Canyon, 9 p.m. MT (FS1)

Mountain West standings

Here are the conference standings through Saturday's games:

(listed alphabetically where records are same)

• 7-0 San Diego State
• 6-1 Utah State
• 5-2 Nevada
• 5-2 New Mexico
• 4-2 Grand Canyon
• 4-2 UNLV
• 3-4 Fresno State
• 2-5 Boise State
• 2-5 Colorado State
• 2-5 Wyoming
• 1-6 San Jose State
• 0-7 Air Force

Stats and stats...

Here is the postgame stat sheet I posted after Saturday's game: San Diego State 83, New Mexico 79

And if you prefer the digital version, here you go: San Diego State 83, New Mexico 79

Grammer's Guesses

Like I said, I'm really bad at this.

1-4 on Saturday for the expert, 2-3 for the coin.

SEASON STANDINGS:

• My daughter's coin: 23-18
• Grammer's Guesses: 21-20

Up next

For New Mexico: The Lobos host Fresno State on Wednesday night in the Pit at 7 p.m. MT in a game being televised on CBS Sports Network.

For San Diego State: The Aztecs play at Grand Canyon on Wednesday at 9 p.m. MT in a game being televised on FS1.

Until next time...

Until next time, Viejas Arena, on the campus of San Diego State University…

How's this for possibly my last time covering a game in this arena? My final empty arena pic here and no Aztecs logo. That's the San Diego Mojo, a pro volleyball team that plays on Sunday.

Reach Geoff Grammer at ggrammer@abqjournal.com or follow him on Twitter (X) @GeoffGrammer.